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A Springfield bar owner argued that a state law allowing bars and taverns to make non-smoking areas available essentially allows them the right to allow smoking. The bar argued that Springfield’s ban, which outlaws smoking almost anywhere the public has access, took away their right to let customers smoke.

The Springfield News-Leader reports the city had argued that the smoking ban simply goes further than the state law in regulating where smoking is prohibited.

On Tuesday, a panel of Southern District Appellate Court judges ruled for the city. The judges said the state law was meant to prohibit smoking, not to allow it.
Springfield voters approved the ban in April 2011 and reaffirmed that vote earlier this month.